Thad Matula felt that his filmmaking career wasn't going
anywhere. He wasn't sure he would ever get that one break in life -
that moment when everything changes.

But that moment came when ESPN picked up his documentary project
about SMU football and the program's 1987 "death penalty."

"It's hard for me to fathom that a year and a half ago I was
editing deer hunting videos and wondering what had happened," said
Matula, 32, an alumnus of Jesuit College Preparatory School of
Dallas and SMU.

Pony Excess will air tonight as the final film of ESPN's "30 for
30" documentary series, which was created to celebrate the
network's 30th anniversary.

It's the culmination of more than a year's worth of work by
Matula. He previously had done student and short films, but nothing
near the platform and visibility that ESPN provides.

Matula had long wanted to make a film about the NCAA-mandated
penalty that shut down SMU's football program for repeated rules
violations, most notably paying its players out of a slush fund
from boosters.

The school opted not to play a partial 1988 schedule and resumed
play in 1989.

A film about SMU and its death penalty was on ESPN's radar as
early as spring 2009, according to John Dahl, executive producer of
ESPN Films. The network's attempts to find a production house to
tackle the topic went nowhere, though.

But a series of chance encounters between producers of the
documentary and an ESPN executive got Matula's project in front of
network executives that summer.

Mike Hughes, a Jesuit classmate of Matula's and executive
producer on the documentary, ran into two producers at a party and
let them know about Matula's project.

The two of them said they were interested in jumping on
board.

Shortly after that, one of them met with an ESPN executive who
mentioned there was an unexpected opening in the "30 for 30"
series.

"It was kind of a happy coincidence," Dahl said.

Mustang's moment

Matula's success is even more notable because he's an unknown
filmmaker dropped in among "30 for 30's" bigger names.

Other directors in the series include Friday Night Lights' Peter
Berg, Barry Levinson, Spike Jonze and Mike Tollin.

"He fits in that group who are talented and have a great project
and have an ability to deliver," Dahl said.

Hughes said the ESPN project will give Matula more fame.

"There are a thousand PAs [production assistants] in Bristol
[Conn.,] who would kill to do that," Hughes said.

Pony Excess is paying off for Matula.

"I'm meeting execs at giant film companies who are actively
interested in helping my career," Matula said, who is working on an
independent film. "Which is the exact opposite as you are
struggling."

Hughes said Matula knows he has to keep working and planning to
try and take advantage of this moment.

"It's one of those industries you are always having to look
toward what is next," Hughes said. "If you don't think about it,
you are screwed."

Special screening

Matula and his crew were finally able to show the documentary at
a sneak preview last week in Dallas.

The Lakewood Theater was overflowing with SMU partisans who
cheered when Eric Dickerson said how much he hated the Texas
Longhorns and laughed at a clip of a Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
member lunging at an SMU cheerleader with a sword.

But the crowd grew silent as it saw clips of WFAA-TV's November
1986 exposé, what many regard as the final nail in the
coffin for SMU football.

"If I did something that attempted to exonerate the university,
it would be a crybaby piece and no one would care about it," Matula
said. "I looked at it honestly, and left for others to decide
whether [the death penalty] was too harsh."

Hughes stood in the back of the theater during the screening and
watched the crowd.

"It was one of the coolest things you could hope for to see the
audience responding," he said.

Matula hopes the film gets people to think about SMU football
again.

"What I've always wanted for this film is some random guy in the
middle of nowhere Ohio on a Saturday afternoon to say 'Ohio State
isn't playing until prime time. Oh, SMU is on. I want to see this
game.' "